


and as she sits upon her place, her innocence laid on her face

by stefonzolesky



Category: Arrested Development
Genre: F/M, it's mostly about tracey though, trans gob if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-26
Updated: 2018-02-26
Packaged: 2019-03-24 03:44:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13802706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stefonzolesky/pseuds/stefonzolesky
Summary: George Michael is both a blessing and a curse to Tracey. A blessing in the sense that he’s wonderful, and more than she ever could have asked for, and she might have been hesitant about letting Michael into her life when they first hooked up, but now she’s so, so in love. A curse in the sense that he just tangles her further into the Bluth family.





	and as she sits upon her place, her innocence laid on her face

Tracey likes to say that her life really began in college. 

High school, to put it very simply, was a disaster. Something was always on fire thanks to some dumb girl two years older than her, even after she graduated, and despite being at the top of her class, Tracey always felt like she was slipping.

As soon as high school ends, she feels like she can breathe again.

And in college, she meets Michael Bluth.

All she wants is a fling, really. He stares after her with big eyes, and she doesn’t want anything out of him except for one night.

Then, out of nowhere, she’s stuck with him. Though he  _ is _ kind of sweet, so she supposes she can live with it. He’s a little too much, sometimes, because he forgets that she’s perfectly capable of doing everything for herself, but he insists on sticking around and she lets him.

Overall, she likes him a lot. So much so that she lets him hang around even when it turns out that his older brother is the kid who kept setting things on fire when they were in high school.

His family is a wreck, but he seems to have turned out pretty okay. For the most part. He’s overprotective and controlling, but that’s probably the best thing that could have happened after coming out of a family like that.

All of this taken into account, Tracey hardly thinks that she would end up marrying the guy. But he quickly becomes her best friend, her partner in crime, and it all fits together.

 

Tracey never had many friends, and her family life has always been less than ideal. But now that she’s with Michael, she’s suddenly more sane than anyone, and he’s a solace in that.

Getting tied up in the Bluth family isn’t what Tracey thought her college years would be like.

“I had a crush on you,” Michael shyly admits to her one day over breakfast. “When we were in high school.”

“Did…” She takes a second to find her words. “Did I know you? In high school. Did we… ever talk?”

Michael hesitates and then shakes his head. “I always tried to get you to notice me, but it never really worked ‘cause Gob was always a dick and ruined everything.”

“That’s…” Tracey hesitates. “A little weird. But sweet.”

Michael backs off a little, looking embarrassed. “Sorry.”

Tracey smiles a little. “You’re fine, Mike. It doesn’t make a difference now.”

 

George Bluth insists that Tracey and Michael name their kid after him. Michael says that he refuses, but Tracey is terrified of George, so they cave. Michael tacks his own name on the end, just because he needs to feel included, and Tracey agrees because she thinks that he deserves that much. At the very least.

 

George Michael is both a blessing and a curse to Tracey. A blessing in the sense that he’s wonderful, and more than she ever could have asked for, and she might have been hesitant about letting Michael into her life when they first hooked up, but now she’s so, so in love. A curse in the sense that he just tangles her further into the Bluth family.

She realizes that she shouldn’t complain, and instead focuses on making sure George Michael stays asleep while Gob watches vulgar movies in their living room because his girlfriend kicked him out and he’s bored.

“He’ll absorb all that shit, Gob” Michael complains, slapping his brother over the head with a rolled up newspaper.

Gob yelps and rubs the back of his head absently as he reluctantly switches the channel to cartoons. “Yeesh,” He grumbles. “It’s not like the kid is even awake.”

Michael mumbles an indignant “whatever” under his breath and goes back to doing who-knows-what on his desk.

 

Tracey gets easily fed up with her husband’s family. Gob, despite his destructive tendencies and constant failed magic tricks, is possibly the most tolerable of them. Lucille and George are both too critical for their own good, and Lindsay’s air of confidence pisses Tracey off endlessly. Tobias, for all his good intentions, likes to constantly misdiagnose people on the grounds of his medical license. And Buster is just… he’s Buster. It’s a little irritating. Overall, Tracey thinks that the whole family is full of shit. 

“A dinner party?” Tracey asks, incredulous. Michael nods grimly. “You and I both know that parties with your family never end well.”

“I know,” Michael tells her. “But it’s Buster’s birthday, and Mom will kill us both if we don’t go.”

Tracey sighs. “I know. I just-- I really don’t want to.”

Michael grimaces. “I know. Neither do I. But--” He pauses. “It might be good for George Michael? My sister is bringing her daughter, and the never get to see each other, because spending time with my sister never ends well.”

“She’s coming all the way from Boston,” Tracey reminds him, and she has herself convinced at this point. “Yeah. Let’s go. It could be fun.”

“Fun?” Michael asks, a smile twitching at his lips. “Bluth parties are never  _ fun _ . Make sure you bring a change of clothes.”

Tracey laughs against Michael’s lips when he kisses her. He’s sweet, and she hates to think about how smitten she is with him, but everything just fits together so much better than it should.

 

The party for Buster’s birthday goes just about as well as Tracey expects. Lucille is drunk, as always, Gob douses Tracey with lighter fluid on three separate occasions, and she’s pretty sure that George is trying to get her killed, because he keeps lighting matches around her while she’s covered with lighter fluid. 

“I hate your family,” She tells Michael as she’s changing her shirt for the fourth time. Michael was right to tell her to pack a suitcase. “This is my last shirt. If your brother gets lighter fluid on me again, I’m suing him.”

“Don’t bother, he doesn’t have any money.” Michael buttons up the top button on his own fresh shirt. “My parents don’t like him. They didn’t invite him.”

“Why did he show up?” Tracey pulls her hair back into a ponytail.

Michael shrugs. “Buster probably told him about it? Gob never gets invited to parties that my parents throw unless someone else tells him about them.”

Tracey grimaces. “Sucks for him, right?”

“Yeah, I guess.” Michael shoves his hands in his pockets awkwardly. “Sucks for everyone else too, though, because he almost always finds out. You ready to head back out there?”

Tracey grins and presses a quick kiss to Michael’s lips. “As ready as I'll ever be," She says. Takes a deep breath. “The things I do for you."


End file.
